Hannah Botterman is determined to become the “best loosehead prop in the world” following her stand-out display in England’s Women’s Rugby World Cup opener.
The 26-year-old was one of the key performers in the Red Roses’ 69-7 victory over the United States at the Stadium of Light on Friday.
As well as her brilliant effort in the front row, Botterman also scored one of England’s 11 tries and is determined to keep improving.
“I’ve worked really hard over the off-season to get into some decent shape,” the prop said.
“I don’t want to be shy about the fact that I want to be the best loosehead prop in the world. I want to cement that this tournament.
“For me, that was a good start, but I feel like I’ve still got a lot more I can give.”
Asked if this is a new target, Botterman added: “No. Certainly for the last three or four years, you always want to be the best in your position.
“I think before, for me, I didn’t feel as if I was physically capable to do that. Whereas now, I’ve put myself in a physically-capable spot.
“It’s just whether I can produce what I want to produce. The desire has always been there, but I feel like I am able to do a bit more now and hopefully that has shown on the pitch.”
Botterman bagged England’s second try of the game in a well-worked team move started by Megan Jones’ brilliant grubber kick, which was pounced on by winger Abby Dow.
From the resulting ruck, Natasha Hunt offloaded to Botterman, who charged over the line to cross and she described the moment as a “surreal” experience.
“We’d obviously just made a break down the edge,” Botterman said.
“I could see they’d all turned in towards the ruck and I just cut a line in behind them. Then I just had to beat Lotte (Sharp) in behind.
“There’s no feeling like it. Scoring for your country is pretty cool, but first game of the World Cup in front of 40,000-odd people is also pretty cool. It was a bit surreal.”
England are World Cup favourites and after taking a 28-7 at the break, their second-half display improved further as they scored seven more tries.
Up next are Pool A fixtures against Samoa and Australia, and Botterman believes there is still more to come from the Red Roses.
“I feel like the team are in a really good spot, personally for me I feel like I am in a really good spot,” she added.
“I think we just want to perform to our maximum capabilities week in and week out. We probably didn’t go to our maximum today, there is a lot more to come out there.
“But it’s a good start and we can push on from here.”
